How Does a Cherry Blossom Bloom?
by Christali
Summary: Being reinstated into the royal fold, Sakura must now adjust to a life she left behind as a child. Now being a face for a royal family, there are new responsibilities and expectations, some that Sakura has no say in. A new romance could be a wise political move, but has Sakura moved on from the past enough to trust her heart? Rated M to be safe. Post-war, Pre-timeskip
1. Silver Gems

Being reinstated into the royal fold, Sakura must now adjust to a life she left behind as a child. Now being a face for a royal family, there are new responsibilities and expectations, some that Sakura has no say in. A new romance could be a wise political move, but has Sakura moved on from the past enough to trust her heart?

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto or the characters. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto or their respectful owners. This work is purely a piece of fiction and is for entertainment only, no profit is made in the publishing of this work.

 _ **How Does a Cherry Blossom Bloom?**_

 _ **Chapter 1: Silver Gems**_

A 22 year-old Sakura fluttered down the street, the tails of her sheer skirt floating behind her. As much as she was uncomfortable with this kingdom's attitudes towards attire and the flaunting of physical maturity, she had to admit that the outfit she now donned daily upon arrival in the capital did look good on her. It was comprised of a low-cut, maroon bandeau top, showing off her hard-earned, chiseled abdomen, a short skirt of matching color, and over that a sheer long skirt tinted a perfect rosy pink which complemented her bubble gum hair wonderfully. Much to her pleasure, boots were considered attractive in this culture as well so she merely had to trade out her shinobi standard boots for some higher quality ones with tapered heels and a few more decorative buckles instead of practical Velcro. The biggest qualm she had about the outfit was that the tailor woman who tended to her insisted that she don a crown which was forged of silver and decorated with jewels. Its twisted design sprawled from above one ear, across her forehead, to the other. Attached at the back was a veil of small, precious jewels resting against her naturally wavy tresses. Each gem of this headdress was white and pure as the tailor insisted they were a better fit for her than any colored version.

This went against Sakura's instinct as only a certain class were allowed to parade clear jewels upon their forms and she, being raised in a shinobi village, was not used to drawing attention to herself, especially since her hair color did that well enough of its own accord. At least she had drawn the line at wearing the matching bracelet cuff and near gaudy necklace that would have taken up the entire expanse of her collarbone and shoulders. Although she had finally made herself accept her new post in this strange land she would not concede to being too over encumbered with trifles to spring into action and call upon her training if need be. She kept this mentality even as she observed the eerie peace of this land, no ill will or even petty thievery appeared to plague these people Sakura noticed as she strolled towards the center of town.

It had been a full six days since she had been removed from her hometown of Konoha and transplanted in the land of Akaruichi, specifically in the city of Ryu, the center of the kingdom's expanse of lands. She had been summoned to the capitol building this morning by way of a messenger in royal guard garb knocking on the door of her apartment at 7 in the morning and bypassing the guards which stood on either side of her door at all hours to deliver the hand-written message. The king and queen of Ryu had summoned her to the great hall and she was to meet with the queen to speak of her new role in Akaruichi. She had calmly accepted the message and begun getting ready about 20 minutes before now, as she neared the capitol building's entrance. Sakura was no fool, she knew this day would come eventually, although she had spent the latter part of her teenage years convinced that she would be allowed to stay in Konoha, maintaining her guise of an ordinary shinobi save being friends with the two most powerful men of all five of the major countries. Most of the ladies who had been in the situation she was currently in had experienced it around the age of 16, she was the oldest to go through with the ritual, at least to her knowledge.

Sakura strolled past the numerous guards lining the pathway to the capitol building without incident; they all knew who she was and why she was there so none of them questioned her. She climbed the many steps to reach the oversized double doors made of cherry stained oak and they were opened for her upon arrival. Past that, she stepped lightly and almost silently on the ruby rug extending from the doors to two highly decorated thrones in front of her. The seat on the left was empty, the king would be signed an endless supply of legal and diplomatic documents at midday, while the right seat was occupied by a very regal looking Queen Sagami. She had the same feminine yet sharp eyes as Sakura, though hers were a friendly, calming shade of blue, almost like the sea and the sky had met and melded together. She wore a traditional gown with long sleeves and a long skirt; the royals occasionally indulged in the more scantily clad fashions of the people, they definitely had the best figures for it, but more often wore more conservative garb to appeal to foreign relations when visiting the capital. The wine color of her gown blended nicely with hair, which reached down to her waist, a dark burgundy that was envied and lusted after by men and women alike. She smiled warmly upon seeing Sakura enter her hall, like an old woman seeing a long-lost friend she never thought she would lay eyes upon again. Sakura halted a few yards away from the step leading to the thrones, she knew to go any farther without permission would incite the guards to take action in order to protect their charge.

"Sakura, my darling, it has been too long since last I laid eyes on you. How do you find your lodgings? Are your guards to your liking? I had tried to convince your father to allow you to stay here in the new chambers but he thought it best to keep you in an apartment until Ayami has a chance to decorate it appropriately." Sagami smiled the entire time she spoke to Sakura, happy simply to be in the young Kunoichi's presence again.

"The lodgings and guards are fine, mother, as always. But why did you choose to bring me to Akaruichi now? Aren't I past the age of ritual?"

"Now, now, darling, you may think that but I think otherwise," Sagami had a twinkle in her eyes as she stood up and descended the step to place her hands on Sakura's shoulders. "Trust me, a mother knows when her daughter's time to blossom is, as I knew with your sisters and even with your cousins. But let's not dwell on that too much, come, let's catch up on all the wonderful adventures you've had in Konohagakure while you were away." She turned Sakura to face a smaller hallway to the left of the thrones and began leading her down the corridor to their favorite room: the kitchen.

x - x - x

Naruto slouched down into his chair, fiddling with a fountain pen as he rested his feet onto his desk. He had mountains of paperwork to review, as usual, but decided to rest as he was about to head home for the day. Shikamaru placed a stack of mission reports on a shelf in the wall and shook his head at the deflated Hokage.

"Well, the good news is in one month's time you'll have a nice, long break from the paperwork while you're entertaining the other Kage and several countries for the spring celebration."

"Yeah, but it's going to be boring with just Sasuke to keep me company. Sakura leaving is going to make it impossible to deal with that butthead now." The Hokage's faced deflated a bit more, which surprised Shikamaru since it was already so full of the look of boredom.

"I'll make you a deal, if you finish reading and signing these proposals," the advisor pointed to a stack containing at least 100 pages of legalese, "I will personally see to it that five different master ramen carts are available for the festivities." Naruto's entire body perked up at the offer, like a dog just offered a steak. "But you have to actually READ through them, don't just sign off on them like you did with the plans for new construction in the western sector."

"I DID read through those, they just didn't put the part about a nude beach in the draft I got!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he put another stack of papers away. "It was from Konohamaru, you should have known better than approve anything of his." He swore if Naruto weren't engaged to Hinata, a woman of decent morals, the Kage would have been impeached long ago for antics Konohamaru would have dragged him into.

x - x - x

The sun was setting as the fierce winds kicked up sand and settled repeatedly in the land of Suna. Gaara was perched on a window seat with his chin on his palm, elbow propped up on his leg, observing the random patterns in which the air moved, veiling the tangerine sun in grains of sand. Kankuro entered the Kazekage's office after releasing everyone for the day, always coming to Gaara last.

"Times up, you're gonna have to go home and stare at the sun there till you blind yourself, Gaara." The leader of Sunagakure made no motion to indicate he had heard his older brother. "Alright, have it your way, spend the night in your office again, but don't expect me to be here to bring you late night takeout, I've got a date." The brunette snickered and exited, closing the door behind him.

Gaara repositioned himself slightly, just enough to ensure his limbs wouldn't go numb as he continued to stare out of his window. No paperwork piled up in this Kage's office, Gaara was constantly on top of his work, something that made him admirable to the people he lead. He had no childish drama like his good, perhaps best, friend the Hokage of Konoha. His life was simple, structured, and the same day in and day out. He was looking forward to having some fun and a change of pace at the springtime celebration, which was being held in the land of fire this year. The celebration was a joint effort of the larger military countries to have a reason to bring together their citizens annually; having Kages constantly convene is one thing, but allowing your people to intermingle truly strengthens the idea of peace and fraternity after a final war. The people of Suna much appreciated being included in an event of fellowship and Gaara was not bothered by allowing them to do so, he relished the casual time he could spend with his hyperactive, blond friend. The festival was always a welcome distraction from the toils of running a village and Gaara expected this year's to be just as beneficial.


	2. Sparks

As someone mentioned, there weren't lines to mark the change of POV in chapter 1 and that is because FF deleted them in formatting after I revised and uploaded the chapter three times. So if this chapter still doesn't show the demarcation, I'm not sure it ever will.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto or the characters. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto or their respectful owners. This work is purely a piece of fiction and is for entertainment only, no profit is made in the publishing of this work.

 _ **How Does a Cherry Blossom Bloom?**_

 _ **Chapter 2: Sparks**_

Sakura bundled herself up in the short kimono with gusto. She was glad to finally be wearing something closer to the style and amount of fabric that she was used to. It had been a little over three weeks since she had arrived in Akaruichi and, as her mother had predicted, she had come not a minute too late. The people of Akaruichi went through a phase during mid teen years known commonly as The Blossoming in which their beauty, said to be derived from the beauty of flowers and granted upon their people by the gods, manifested to its peak. Ladies filled out, men became more muscular, faces appeared less childlike and more refined. Sakura's Blossoming had occurred two weeks after she was led away from Konoha and reunited with her parents, King Kaimaru and Queen Sagami, and the rest of her family. She now looked like she belonged to royalty: her eyes kept their sharp but gentle shape, her forehead was not as large as it was in adolescence, her breasts were a decent size, her waist stayed small, her hips widened out to carry a gown beautifully, and her legs had elongated just enough to give her some more height, which she carried with the grace of all the generations of kings and queens before her.

Now she was joining her family as an envoy to attend the springtime festival, the first time the Haruguchi clan, her clan, would be attending. She was interested in seeing the reaction on her friend's faces, she hadn't exactly told them where she was going, just that she would need some time off and that she was considering retiring from shinobi life. They certainly didn't know it was because it was her time to return to her true homeland and join her royal family as a productive member. This festival would be her first royal act: fostering good will with other countries. Akaruichi was not known in the shinobi world, powerful though they were, because they kept to themselves. The only reason Kaimaru had decided to form relations with other countries was because they had taught very useful survival skills to his middle daughter, who was not suited to any form of fighting but rather the arts and diplomacy. His kingdom was expanding and he would need more military and a better combat repertoire in order to protect his kingdom; after careful observation of what Sakura had learned in the ten years she was active he knew he could learn quite a bit from the shinobi.

Sakura sat down on the cushioned bench at the foot of her oversized bed and began to pull on her silk slippers; she, and all of her many family members, would be traveling in sedan chairs so she could have an excuse to wear some cute, non-utilitarian shoes for once. She had never had this much time to primp since her days in the Academy, before life-threatening missions were a daily occurrence. Ino would be ecstatic upon her return, not because she missed her best friend, but because of the wardrobe Sakura had inherited and was taking a good portion of with her on the trip.

x - x - x

Naruto spat out the broth of his ramen as Kiba smacked him to put an emphasis on a joke. Gaara let out a chuckle as he took another sip of his tea. There was never a dull moment when he was visiting the Hokage and his friends. It was nice to have a break from the paperwork for once; a chance to just relax and not worry about being the Kazekage. The spring celebration officially began tomorrow afternoon, but since Gaara had arrived earlier that morning Naruto took an executive half day.

"Alright, I say we start your visit off with a bang: fireworks!" Naruto had a big, foxy grin spread across his face.

"Sounds awesome to me," Kiba offered.

"As long as we have enough food, I'm in!" Chouji managed to enunciate with a mouthful of hot barbeque. "Shikamaru, you want to pick the main dish with me later?"

The advisor rolled his eyes at this prospect. "Ugh, how troublesome. I've already worn myself out explaining to the elders why Naruto is playing hookey the rest of the day. What about you do it, Lee?" Shikamaru had done more than his fair share of mediation to ensure the kage didn't get impeached.

"Yes! I will gladly assist you in picking the finest dishes for this splendid show of youthfulness!" Lee punched the air for good measure, even though everyone there knew he was more than willingly to help, to an overwhelming degree.

"Uuuhhh, okay then…" Chouji realized he would rather go alone and in peace than have to constantly answer Lee's questions on whether a vegetable was perfectly ripe for the youthful, stupendous occasion. Naruto, Kiba, Gaara, and Sai all snickered in unison, knowing that Chouji just signed himself up for the worst job.

"Well I'll obviously be in charge of fireworks," Naruto stood up from the counter containing 8 empty bowls of ramen, "Kiba you scout the location and tell us all by 6 tonight, Shikamaru you make sure you get permits, certificates or whatever we need so I don't get an earful at work tomorrow. The rest of you just make sure you don't look like bums when we start."

"Bossy even when he's not in his office," Kiba smiled and started to head out while the rest of them followed. "Sai you invite everybody else, might as well make it a family affair, right?"

x - x - x

Sakura darted away from the caravan as soon as they neared the doors of the Leaf village, her parents wouldn't be concerned as they knew enough about their estranged daughter to know that she was stubborn and wanted to do everything her way or not at all. She stepped lightly on each tree branch as she headed straight for her old apartment, hopefully later she could convince her family that they didn't actually all need to stay at the embassy together and she would be better off in familiar settings after so long away from her home. She jumped from the last branch and on top of the wall surrounding the village, the guards a bit shocked at someone attempting the jump the distance, but relaxing when they realized whom it was. She instructed them not to announce that she had come back on threat of several of their larger bones needing casting should they make a peep. Satisfied with their terrified faces, Sakura began hopping rooftops towards her home. Two buildings away from her complex she jumped down and walked the rest of the way, spotting an all too familiar ponytail whipping in the wind by her door.

"How did you get here so fast, pig?"

"I saw a boy with pink hair in that group that walked through and I'm not stupid, forehead." The blonde slinked off the wall of Sakura's building and turned to squint at her best friend. "Sooooo, where exactly have you been all this time? Because I recall, I believe the rules of friendship state that if you've left any clothes and makeup up there they're forfeit to me since they've been abandoned."

"Well then why did you wait for me to get back before ransacking the place? I know you've copied a key for every door and lock in my house," Sakura unlocked her door and slipped off her slippers, which were considerably more wore than when she first got them from branch and roof jumping, she'd have to ask her mother for a new pair, and headed to her room to assist Ino in picking what items her best friend would steal.

"I can't go through you stuff when you disappear without a word. What if you were dead? How disrespectful would that be?"

"And yet, taking my stuff when I'm alive is just fine?" Sakura arched a brow at Ino, incredulous at her logic.

"Well duh, what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine because I taught you everything you know about be fashionable and chic so you owe me. I think I'll take payment in the form of this pair of heels since no of your clothes do justice to my bombshell figure." She slipped a pair of classic strappy heels off the shelf and sat down on the vanity chair while Sakura collapsed on the bed. "But seriously, where the heck have you been, girl? Do you know what holding in gossip does to the body? It's toxic. And kami knows Hinata and Tenten are terrible as gossiping."

"If I tell you what's going on, do you promise not tell anybody? I want to handle this on my own terms, and I know you can keep a secret, if you actually want to." After Ino swore on her grave to be held to secrecy, Sakura began the long disclosure of why she had suddenly disappeared.

"Well damn, girl. Anytime you want to donate to the Ino Fund, your royal self can feel free to go right ahead. But if you're reinstated in the line of succession and are an ambassador for this place, that means after the festival you won't be coming back?"

"Afraid so, Ino," the blonde's mood dropped at this, Sakura could see it in her posture and face, "but I'm sure my father will assign me to monitor relations with the Leaf, so I'll be around often enough."

"Ok, I guess, as long as you promise to actually tell me when you're coming and going from now on. Now come on and get your boots on, the boys invited everybody to watch fireworks in a field, or are you too undercover for now to enjoy some fun with your old friends?" Ino teased as she dragged her friend down the stairs and pushed her out of the doorway before she had a chance to pull both shoes on.

x - x - x

"Damn it, Kiba, that hit my eye!" Naruto was clutching the left side of his face as the Inuzuka roared with laughter and lit more small rockets.

"Relax, your face can't get any uglier," Sai said absentmindedly while lighting a sparkler. He had done a good job of getting the word out, in addition to Lee, Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Gaara; Tenten, Hinata, Shino, Konohamaru, Temari, and Kankuro all showed up as well. He distinctly remembered inviting Ino as well, knowing it would be the perfect event to comment on how the darkness hid her disfigured form, but as he did not see her in attendance, he supposed the diva was off somewhere trying too hard to catch a bachelor's attention.

Chouji strolled over to the cart that held all the fireworks Naruto had acquired, far more types than a civilian store would have had, and reached for the largest one. It was the size of a barrel and had several warnings stamped on the exterior. "Hey guys! How about this one next?" After a little bit of convincing on Naruto, Chouji, Kiba, and Konohamaru's part, everyone agreed to set the behemoth off. Konohamaru was chosen as the one who would light it, behind smaller, lighter, and therefore a bit faster then everyone else while running and once everyone was a good distance away he set fire to the wick and hightailed out of the area. The boom of the firework was so intense it shook the ground and made them lose their footing.

"Oh my god," a voice from further away sounded out, "what is wrong with you guys? Are you trying to give people a headache?" Ino stumbled up a small hill while holding her head between her hands.

From farther behind the blonde, another woman's voice called out: "you shouldn't be surprised, you do realize which people had the idea to set off fireworks in the first place, right?"

Almost everyone in the group snapped their heads in the direction of the voice; it had not been heard in the village for a very long time.


End file.
